# ASH Supports Smoking License in the UK



## boxer757 (Apr 18, 2007)

This is an article about an American organization helping to pass a law in the UK requiring smokers to have a license in order to purchase tobacco. This sh*t just keeps getting more and more ridiculous. Next thing you know they will have us wearing flare.

http://www.pr-inside.com/ash-supports-proposal-to-require-all-r441982.htm

2008-02-17 10:45:06 - A proposal to require smokers in the UK to obtain a license to purchase tobacco products is supported by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), America's first antismoking organization, which is working with the sponsor to strengthen the proposal and make it more effective.

Unfortunately, some news reports of the proposal suggest that it is seen by many simply as a device or technique to make smoking needlessly more difficult and inconvenient, and therefore only an attempt to bully and oppress people into quitting by creating totally unnecessary bureaucratic hurtles for smokers.

However, notes ASH, even in its present form, it does serve at 
least one valuable public function - providing a governmental ID card certifying that the holder is of legal age to purchase tobacco products.

The license fee would also in a very small way begin to offset the enormous costs smoking imposes on the economy which, ASH explains, amount to about $140 billion a year in the US - far more than the sum of all cigarette taxes.

However, suggests ASH, the license-all-smokers proposal could easily be made to serve several additional and important governmental objectives. For example:

FIRST, as part of the process of applying for a license, applicants could be required to read and sign a document indicating that they thoroughly understand all of the health risks to third parties - including spouses and children - of smoking in their presence.

This would include new information that exposure for as little as thirty minutes can trigger a fatal heart attack in adults [ash.org/30minutes], and that thousands of children are killed each year because their parents smoke [ash.org/parentskillkids].

This function, ASH suggests, is especially important because the government has an unquestioned role in taking steps to protect the health of third parties, including innocent children.

SECOND, as part of the process of applying for the license, applicants could be required to read and sign a document insuring that they thoroughly understand all of the health and financial consequences to themselves of continuing to smoke, and that they are willing to accept these risks and burdens. Since the health risks and financial burdens are very considerable, most applicants would thereby be exposed to large amounts of information they may not previously have been aware of.

THIRD, as part of the process of applying for a license, applicants could be required to review information about various cessation techniques and cessation programs (especially those available in their area), including various forms of pharmacological intervention. They could then be provided assistance in choosing one of these programs or techniques, unless they affirmatively decline the assistance.

FOUR, as part of the process of applying for a license, applicants could be required to provide a form signed by a physician or other appropriate health professional certifying that whatever tests are appropriate for someone with the heightened health risks caused by smoking (e.g., a chest X-ray every 5 years after the age of 40, etc.) had been performed, and the smoker had been advised of the results of the tests.

In summary, ASH suggests that providing one or more logical rationales directly related to important governmental objectives as justifications for requiring a license to smoke may greatly strengthen the arguments for the program's adoption, and help to quiet the cries claiming that it is nothing but a scheme to needlessly burden and inconvenience smokers.

Contact Information:
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
America's First Antismoking Organization

2013 H St., NW
Washington, DC 20006

Contact Person:
Professor John Banzhaf
Executive Director and Chief Counsel
Phone: (202) 659-4310

Web: http://ash.org/


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## brightpaths (Jul 4, 2007)

Thanks for the information, Matt!


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## cjd-uk (Jan 7, 2008)

"£f£!¬£$m&$Vfrlkroi#@+*!!!!!!ing hell.
What next?


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